About SHR

We’re just two girls who love watching hockey and then talking about it. We’re huge fans of the Dallas Stars - we love the game, the players, and the entire franchise - but we also just really love hockey. This is where we indulge in our minor obsession.

The best way to get in touch with us is to post a comment on one of our posts, but if you need to, feel free to email us at stophittingrobidas@gmail.com.

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Posts tagged ‘Henrik Lundqvist’

What should have been a battle between twins Joel and Henrik Lundqvist ended up being more of a pity-the-backup-goalie night, as Henrik was unable to netmind for the Rangers because of the flu. Instead of facing his brother, Joel and the Stars were up against Stephen Valiquette.

On the other end of the ice was Marty Turco, backed up by Brent Krahn instead of Tobias Stephan, who was sent down to the minors.

When the puck dropped, everyone basically expected a repeat of the Stars’ last game against the Rangers; a 2-1 win in New York decided mostly with special teams and strong defense.

It seemed, at first, that that was exactly how the game was going to go.

Though four goals were scored in the first twenty minutes, the period ended with a very reachable 3-1 Stars lead, if the Rangers could manage at least two more goals over the final two periods.

However, they weren’t able to gain any ground in the second period, with both teams scoring to make the game 4-2.

Though the Stars’ firepower in the first period would have been enough to carry them through the game, and despite Tippett putting youth and bottom lines out instead of his top players, they turned the game into a historic blowout with 6 third period goals.

The game was Fabian Brunnstrom’s first game back from injury, but also his last; on the last goal, he was tripped up and left the ice noticeably limping.

The team netted 4 power play goals in one game for the first time since 2006.

Since moving to Dallas, the Stars hadn’t gotten 10 goals in one game – until this one. They also set the record for most goals in one period since the move from Minnesota.

Ott and Lehtinen continued their points streaks to seven games, a career-high for both.

SHR +/-:

Matt Niskanen: two for each assist and one for good defense; +7Mike Modano: two for each assist; +4Krys Barch: one for getting 8 hits and one for creating some good offensive opportunities; +2James Neal: three for each goal but minus-one for sort of stealing a goal from Brunnstrom; +5Brian Sutherby: three for the goal; +3Jere Lehtinen: three for the goal and two for each assist; +7Andrew Hutchinson: two for the assist; +2Steve Ott: three for the goal, two for each assist, and one for getting 9 hits; +8Marty Turco: two for a good game and one for an especially solid third period; +3Darryl Sydor: three for the goal and two for the assist; +5Mike Ribeiro: three for each goal, two for each assist, and one for leading with 5 takeaways; +11Brad Richards: three for the goal and one for leading in SOG; +4Fabian Brunnstrom: three for the goal, two for each assist, and one for a good game back; +6

With the Dallas Stars slumped in a 6-10-4 hole at the bottom of the league, we at SHR! felt it was time to stop being so introspective. We’ve picked, prodded, and yelled at everyone from the players to the owner, and now it’s time to move on (at least until the next game). Team bias aside, here’s how we feel about some other players across the league this season.

Note: All the links go to images, videos, and articles that we felt illustrated our feelings best. So please, don’t hesitate with the clicking.

SidneyCrosby
First overall draft pick in 2005. Winner of the Art Ross Trophy, the Lester B. Pearson Award, and the Hart Memorial Trophy. 21 years old and captain of the Pittsburgh Penguins. Led his team to the Stanley Cup Finals last season, and failed (despite his best efforts) to grow any semblance of a beard through the entire run. Also, he’s a total tool. In a meeting with a pair of original Penguins season ticket holders, Crosby responded to the couple’s enthusiasm with monotonous ‘Oh’s and ‘Okay’s. A 9-year-old can do your spinny move, Crosby. It doesn’t make you special or make up for the absolute lack of personality. Your own team’s fans call you “Cindy” for a reason.

Evgeni MalkinBasically a slightly older, Russian, less dynamic version of Crosby. Since we’ve already determined that Crosby’s a tool, that means Malkin is too. Pity. He’s first in the league for assists right now, but sitting under that kind of stifling shadow, he’ll always be at the bottom of our books (especially when it comes to Russian players). Should he ever escape Sid and the Pens, we’ll be on the lookout for the much-anticipated reveal of his personality. Until then, though, no thanks.

Alexander OvechkinNow here’s a Russian player we can get behind. Sure, he’s got aesthetics of a Cro-Magnon, but behind all that scruff is a highly-skilled someone with a real love of the sport. Known for exuberant goal celebrations, a goofy grin, incredible scoring ability, and a seemingly never-ending list of quirks, Ovechkin is credited with bringing much-needed personality and talent into the NHL. He was first overall in his draft year (2004) and, thanks to the lockout, ended up debuting versus Sidney Crosby, effectively stealing the Calder Memorial Trophy with a stunning 52 goal/106 point season. Really though, we mostly love him because he makes us laugh just about every time he gets in front of a camera or near a reporter.

Alexander SeminThe “other” Alex is generally overshadowed by Alex Ovechkin, but we found that there’s a lot to like about this guy aside from his partner-in-crime. We first picked him up on our radar when this interview came out with him calling Crosby “nothing special”. Now, them’s fighting words. While the rest of the league took offense, we sat back and had a good laugh. The best part? Semin was sharing the top spot in league points with Malkin up until his injury, with 27 points in 16 games. Crosby, meanwhile, still only has 25 points in 20 games. Like Ovechkin, though, his obvious talent isn’t the main draw to us at SHR. We love him because, despite being here for 2 full years (5 if you include up to his first as a Capital) and obviously understanding English, he still insists on doing interviews in Russian using a translator. Or because he’s always laughing at seemingly nothing. Or because he does things like this during games. He’s infectious.

Brooks Laich (and Mike Green)While he might not be as good of a goal scorer as Ovechkin (12 points in 21 games), Laich claims to challenge him in the “ladies man” department. We may not necessarily agree with that, but we will agree that he’s a funny and well-spoken guy. Green is included because he shares the spotlight with Laich in some fun adventures with Caps Cribs. In the end, Laich won out because (okay, not ALL bias aside) he’s from Saskatchewan and so is Brenden Morrow, and he unsurprisingly reminds us a little bit of our beloved captain.

Jason ArnottAn ex-Star, he proved to be a major pain in the derriere so far this season. Captaining the Nashville Predators, he got two goals and one assist in the only time he’s played us in 08-09. We lost that game 3-1. From our understanding, he was that kind of ache for Stars fans even when he was a Star, his antics making him more trouble than he was worth. Still, he’s earned his spot as captain for his new team, and we were openly alarmed the night he suffered a neck strain on a frightful collision that left him motionless on the ice for over five minutes. Glad he’s alright, and looking forward to despising him again come our match-up in December.

Jordan TootooWe respectfully dislike Arnott, because he’s got the potential to put us in some statistical pain. We just outright hate Tootoo, because he’s got the potential to put us in some unnecessarily excessive physical pain. His nicknames range from “Tutu” to “Toots” and they all remind us of how he likes to suckerpunch people with his gloves on. We think words like “vile,” “scum,” and “cowardly” describe him best. He’s been accused of biting people, running injured players, diving, faking innocence, and otherwise shaming the sport. We might be holding a grudge, but rightfully so. This man has no and has earned no respect.

Henrik LundqvistTwin of Stars forward Joel Lundqvist, Henrik is the goaltender for the New York Rangers. While we may not care much for that team, Lundqvist stands alone as our favored Eastern goalie. He currently sports a .926 sv%, good for seventh best in the league, and a GAA (2.09) that’s good for fifth best. When his team needs a big player, he makes big saves, and when he can’t do that, he doesn’t throw a fit when he gets pulled from the game. He’s a class act with style that should make Sean Avery jealous, but… well, he doesn’t appear to take himself too seriously.

Martin BrodeurA good part of why we like Lundqvist is that he’s escaped the kind of snobbery that seems to drip off other Eastern goalies, particularly Brodeur. He could be the best netminder ever to set foot on ice, or the worst, and it wouldn’t matter to us with an attitude like that. When someone in the league does something he doesn’t like (see Avery, arm-waving), he gripes about it until the rules are changed in his favor. And when other goaltenders began exploiting equipment size rules, Brodeur stubbornly insisted on wearing the old, smaller sizes. Good for him, but then he turned around and complained that other goalies had an unfair advantage. Wait, what? His game wasn’t even suffering from this “injustice”, and he still forced another rule change about it. Its amazing that there’s still a goalie trapezoid, all things considered.

Patrick Kane (and Jonathon Toews)Neither of them appear to have hit puberty yet, but they both do their best to carry the Blackhawks on their shoulders in an unfortunate Crosby-like trend. Since when are a pair of 20-year-olds responsible enough to lead a professional hockey team?Also like Sidney Crosby, Kane can’t grow a beard. He said here that he wasn’t going to shave, but we saw him in Dallas 10 days later and can attest to the fact that his facial hair was still MIA. When it comes to the ‘Hawks, we’d rather see more of the pranksters, Adam Burish and Patrick Sharp, and less of the pranked.

Chris Chelios (and the Red Wings)If schooling the Stars and the Penguins in last year’s playoffs wasn’t enough proof, the Red Wings walked off with the Stanley Cup and the respect of the entire league. Their skill level, style of play, and ability to win has brought us to this conclusion: the Wings are animatronic hockey players. A good example of this is Chris Chelios, who has been functioning in the NHL for longer than players like Crosby or Ovechkin have been alive. We reckon that he’s due for an oil change soon. We’re not sure where Detroit picked up such sophisticated technology (the same place they get their dead octopuses, maybe?), but we’ll bet that they’re powered with Energizer batteries.

Braydon CoburnRolled out of bed, got misdirected by a hurricane, wandered through a prison, and finally made it to the Flyer’s headshot photoshoot. At least, that’s what it looks like. At 6’5” and 220 lbs, we still think Coburn is probably the least-scary giant hockey monster we’ve ever not actually met. We credit this commercial for giving us that opinion, as he brought a surprising amount of natural charisma to make for a very endearing thirty seconds. Hockey commercials are usually funny because of the awful acting. This one was funny for just the opposite.

Ryan MaloneJoining Coburn in the ranks of people we like because of their hockey commercials is Ryan Malone. To be honest, we don’t care if he DID take more money and fled his hometown to stink it up with the Lightning. He’s got better stats than Steven Stamkos right now, anyway. Besides, after seeing this, we suspect he was sick of being the only person with an outgoing personality on his team. Is it possible that a losing Lightning still beats a winning Penguins when rated on fun and humor? We hope so.

Saku Koivu (and Mikko Koivu) A pair of Finnish hockey brothers, separated by nine years and a thousand miles, the Koivus are as charming as they come. Saku has been with the Canadiens since they drafted him in 1993, while Mikko has been for Minnesota since they drafted him in 2001. With both of them currently captaining their respective teams, it’s pretty unlikely that they’ll ever play on the same side in an NHL match-up. Older brother Saku gets the upperhand for us because of his battle with cancer, and our respect for him having overcome it.

Marc SavardThere were a lot of Bruins competing for this spot, including Milan Lucic and Zdeno Chara. Savard got it because of his antics in the game in which they played the Stars. Once again, bias aside, this was really our first impression of Bruins gameplay, and it left us with a bitter taste in our mouths. We fully understand how grating Avery must have been for him, but that gave Savard no excuse to push him into the fetal position and punch him in the head. We wouldn’t even wish that kind of circus on our rivals, which is why we hope the likes of Savard never becomes part of the Stars.

Eric Staal (and Jordan and Marc and Jared)Oh, the Staal brothers. Eric and Jordan already have hat tricks this season, and Marc… has only gotten four points in 24 games this season. That’s alright, though. Jared’s still stuck in the minors. We might not be fans of them as individuals per se, but as a group, they’re definitely fun to watch. Maybe we have a harder time loving them as individuals because it’s so hard to tell them apart when they aren’t wearing the colors of their respective teams. We’re even willing to excuse this little incident, because the mental image of hockey superstars wandering drunk on a highway harassing motorists is kind of funny.

That’s all for our SCiaT: SVotN. Feel free to comment and add on to our conclusions, or remind us of heroes and villains that we may have left off the list.

So, totally meant to do this last night, but after watching the game on DVR it was something like midnight and I had class this morning.

But here it is. Game one of the road trip, against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden. It was the home of Sean Avery until he signed with Dallas, and the first time going against his old team this year. It is the home of Joel Lundqvist’s twin brother, Ranger goaltender Henrik Lundqvist.

First period, as far as the numbers go, was cringe-worthy. Only 25 seconds into the game, Loui Eriksson got a fairly debatable penalty for tripping and put the Rangers on their first power play. Right after that call, Avery saw an opportunity to engage his old teammates in with rather unfriendly chirping and shoving. Another Ranger stepped in, and a few of the Stars circled over to back up Avery. It was nice, to see Avery getting helped out by the team.

Back on the numbers thing, thirty seconds after this little altercation, at 0:58 in the first, Ranger Markus Laslund got a swift power play shot in on Marty Turco, putting them at a 1-0 lead. The assists went to Michal Rozsival and Scott Gomez.

Being down by one to the team in the league with the most points shook off any remaining lethargy we’d seen in the Stars. Their serious underdog complex took over, and (I thought) their play sharpened considerably. They outshot the Rangers 9-8 for the first period.

Also, but not very memorably, in the first was a small conflict between BJ Crombeen of the Stars and Brandon Dubinsky of the Rangers that earned them each two minute minors (for roughing and elbowing, respectively).

I fast-forwarded right through the first intermission.

Period two showed the same work ethic, to borrow the term of the month from the Stars, that we’d seen in the first. It was rewarded with a Stars power play when Ryan Callahan was called out for tripping at 4:13. Half-way through the PP, we had a special teams group of Stephane Robidas, Brenden Morrow, Mike Modano, Brad Richards, and Fabian Brunnstrom out to tie things up. As we know, Fabian Brunnstrom likes ties – making and breaking them. Last night, he helped Morrow make one.

At 5:38, Brunnstrom (looking very much like Mike Modano) sent a slick backhand pass behind him to what should have been Brenden Morrow standing in the crease. Unfortunately, Morrow had been knocked down. Fortunately, falling over has never stopped Brenden Morrow from playing hockey. Yes, Morrow scored their first goal from his back directly in front of Lundqvist, elevating the puck right over him and into the net. I loved it.

After that, the second period finished out very much like the first, with both teams struggling to maintain puck possession. Nicklas Grossman spent a few minutes in the box for hooking and Dubinsky spent a few more for tripping. Henrik Lundqvist had trouble controlling his rebounds, but managed to hold us at 1-1. Our defense had a little trouble in controlling turnovers, leading Turco to make a couple big saves to keep us in the game, including a huge one on Nigel Dawes.

We also discovered that Rangers fans suck.

Okay, that’s a bit dramatic, but really. They were booing at Avery every time he stepped onto the ice, and cheered whenever he was hit. And he was hit a lot, including a sucker-punch to the face that the officials conveniently did not see. Luckily, Avery loves being hated, and was probably really enjoying the attention either way.

Fast-forwarded through the second intermission too.

Third period I think I spent staring in wide-eyed anticipation at the Neal-Modano-Crombeen line. Modano looked hungry. He wasn’t just a veteran trying to finish out his contract. He was forceful, dominating on the ice and going after the puck like nobody’s business. I fully credit James Neal and BJ Crombeen with this revitalizing of our dear Modano, who has said now that he’d like to be the team’s top scorer again.

Turco and Lundqvist continued their battle of the goalies for almost ten more minutes, holding the game to a 1-1 tie.

At 8:03, though, Lundqvist lost. No shaming in losing to Mike Modano, though, really. After some puck shuffling between Neal and Crombeen, Crombeen took a shot from behind that bounced off the side of the net. With some lucky geometry, the puck deflected at the perfect angle to take it straight to Modano. Modano sent it sizzling right past Lundqvist with the game-winning goal.

After that, the Stars were on fire. They got a power play at 11:40 when Michal Rozsival got a two-minute for interference that did not get converted into another goal, but was looking much better than the “are we on a PP or PK?” that we’d been seeing. Turco held the lead, stopping seven shots total in the third period.

Lundqvist tried to leave a couple times for open net, but the Stars continued to push into the offensive zone and prevented him from benching until the last 36 seconds of the game.

We ended with a glorious 2-1 Stars win, despite the Rangers best efforts to push it into overtime. Might I just say: Hah!

Notes:

The three game stars, in order: Mike Modano, Marty Turco, Henrik Lundqvist

Marty Turco looked like the lovable wall we know him to be, stopping 27 in 28 goals for a Sv% of .964. His season Sv% is now .844 and his GAA at 4.05, moving him up from 30th place for GAA in the league.

Toby Petersen did not play, as he returned to Dallas when his wife went into labor Monday. Doug Janik also did not play, and is still day-to-day with his facial injury from Saturday.

Love love love love the Neal-Modano-Crombeen line. Love it.

Sean Avery declined to speak to the press following the game, as he owed the Stars a victory dinner.

Trevor Daley led the team in TOI with 24 minutes, but Stephane Robidas and Nicklas Grossman tied for leading shifts with 27.

Brenden Morrow led in hits, with 7.

Mark Fistric continued to fail, making us miss a defenseman we’ve only ever seen play for five minutes. His sloppy turnover habit resulted in at least one scoring chance for the Rangers. Bleh, Fistric.

None of the Stars exited the night’s game in the negative for +/-. Five left at +1.

Conclusion: The Stars looked like Stars again. Our big names were having the big impact, our netminder was minding like we know he can, and the skill and hard work we’ve come accustomed to is (though slowly) returning.

Official SHR +/-:

Nicklas Grossman: two for good defense; +2Stephane Robidas: two for good defense, one for shoving someone who got in Modano’s face, and two for the giant hug he gave Turco after the game; +5Matt Niskanen: two for good defense; +2Trevor Daley: two for good defense and one for leading in TOI; +3Mike Modano: three for the goal, two for the game star, and one for the high level of energy; +6Brenden Morrow: three for the goal, two for style, one for leading in hits, and one for looking like our captain again; +7Sean Avery: two for maintaining his composure and getting even without breaking the rules, one pity point for all the big hits he received, and two points for the moment he had with Turco post-game; +5James Neal: two for the assist, one for leading in takeaways, and one for being in the top ten list of rookies in the league; +4Mark Fistric: minus-three because I’m sick of watching him create scoring chances for the other team; -3Marty Turco: two for the big save on Dawes, three for all the other big saves, and two for being Turco again; +7BJ Crombeen: two for the assist and one for being in the top ten list of rookies in the league; +3Mike Ribeiro: one for being in the right place consistently, even if the result didn’t produce goals; +1Brad Richards: two for the assist; +2Fabian Brunnstrom: two for the assist and two for being the second-best rookie in the league; +4

Off Ice +/-:

Brenden Morrow: three for being hilarious in last Thursday’s interview on The Ticket and in joking about the ugliness of his goal last night; +3

Sean Avery: two for his oddly friendly “I love everything” attitude towards the press and his teammates; +2